Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Conservatives Keep Repudiating Pope... Again

With everything we've seen the last 24 hours, it seems that the Ratzinger "fan club" of false friends has changed their former tune of "You're XVI, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine" to "You're XVI, You're Liberal, and You're A Disappointment." Talk about fickleness.

Cdl. McCarrick withheld the Truth (then-Cdl.Ratzinger's full letter) from those who had a right to know it (the rest of the bishops in the US). By definition, objectively, he lied. Pray that he went to the Sacrament of Penance, celebrated rightly, according to the Church.

So now, in their quest to excommunicate the Pope himself and crown Bernard Fellay with the triple tiara, the Lawler crowd has taken to holding B16's grudges for him -- grudges Ratzi likely never had in the first place.

Erm Rocco, some of us who support Card Pell's right to wear the cappa magna, actually agree with you (more precisely your Kevin Miller post), or rather agree with the Holy Father with regards to the fitness of Card. McCarrick for the job. Don't taint us all with the same brush by insinuating that somehow we are not Catholic.

I don't know what the deal is. I like Cardinal McCarrick, though I was confused and put off by his response to the Ratzinger letter. It's fine by me if he stays for years.

But I think Rocco must just be having FUN tarring everybody wildly with whatever brush comes to hand. Why on earth, for example, does he pretend that Phil Lawler et al. love Fellay and Williamson just because they were excessively angry with McCarrick? Just trying to get a rise, I think, there's no logic there. That's why there are never any responses to complaints.

I agree. This blog with its different view does give me pause for thought. Me and my circle of Catholic friends can be rather insular. I do wish though that the antagonism that Rocco takes be replaced with more incisive and accurate reporting. We are all on the same side after all.

Though I love Rocco and his blog (despite my furious disagreements),I'm not so sure that we're all "on the same side after all." I think there's a sundering difference in what Rocco calls "ecclesiology"--really I think a difference in conception of what the Catholic Church IS--that sets us at odds.

That's why, in spite of protestations of their desire for inclusiveness, the "left" of the Church ends up with its own set of anathemas and people who should be left to rot, rather than accomodated as much as possible.

On balance, I'd rather have confused people remain attached to the Church than simply to forget Her and go off into the Void. But that doesn't mean that their heterodox nonsense doesn't need to be challenged. Otherwise, they serve as teachers and mentors, encouraging other people to misunderstand the nature of the Faith.

Personally, I think Rocco's commentary is a much-needed voice for "orthodox Catholics," a group among whom I include myself. As today's Gospel tells us, we must be poor and love the poor, and I think the orthodoxy-police are often so focused on abortion--as important as it is--that they think they can justifiably forget about the poor (not simply speaking of politics here, but life in general). If we neglect the poor, the widows, and the orphans, we go to hell--it's that simple. And if we think that getting rich and having the American dream is a good thing then we've become heretics. John Paul II, of course, had the nearly ideal balance, in my book, between the "right's" concern for doctrinal orthodoxy and the unborn and the "left's" concern for social justice and not being so rigid in our traditions (little "t") that we miss what the Spirit wants to do. We need them both, and dear Lord, please send us more pastors and shepherds who know that and live it out. And Rocco correctly points out that the very people who call him "the great" or got excited about Benedict's election can be selective in their support. Not saying that one can't disagree with Cardinals McCarrick, Mahony, et al., but, as a rule, they deserve a certain amount of respect by virtue of their office and we should look at them more as shepherds to be prayed for and supported rather than enemies to be opposed. Moreover, those bishops considered on the "left" often help remind us that we need to spend as much energy caring for the babies who have been born as those who have not. My 2 cents for what it's worth...

There's a lot IN what you say; we can end up forgetting our mission to our brothers and sisters and focus too much on mere words.

BUT...

If you ignore the poor, you may be a bad Catholic. If you don't accept the authoritative teachings of the Church, you're not a Catholic AT ALL. The church is FULL of sinners, but heretics aren't in the Church at all, though they may frequent buildings with Vatican flags. As Cardinal Ratzinger points out in On the Way to Jesus Christ, if you don't have the foundation of orthodoxy to build on, you end up BETRAYING the poor anyway. This is where the secularists and Marxists end up.

You need more than the foundation; but you NEED the foundation. Orthopraxy isn't a replacement for orthodoxy.

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About Me

One of global Catholicism's most prominent chroniclers, Rocco Palmo has held court as the "Church Whisperer" since 2004, when the pages you're reading were launched with an audience of three, grown since by nothing but word of mouth, and kept alive throughout solely by means of reader support.

A former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet, he's been a church analyst for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NBC, CNN and NPR among other mainstream print and broadcast outlets worldwide.

A native of Philadelphia, Rocco Palmo attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2010, he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis.

In 2011, Palmo co-chaired the first Vatican conference on social media, convened by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. By appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap., he's likewise served on the first-ever Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese, whose Church remains his home.